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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: some consolation in the fact that so soon as a "bug" shows
any signs of illness, he is devoured at once by his voracious
brethren with the same relish as if he were made of fresh paste.
There is, too, a small silvery insect (Lepisma) which I have
often seen in the backs of neglected books, but his ravages
are not of much importance.
Nor can we reckon the Codfish as very dangerous to literature, unless, indeed,
he be of the Roman obedience, like that wonderful Ichthiobibliophage
(pardon me, Professor Owen) who, in the year 1626, swallowed three Puritanical
treatises of John Frith, the Protestant martyr. No wonder, after such a meal,
he was soon caught, and became famous in the annals of literature.
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